HPCL to invest in Vishakapatnam refinery

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd plans to invest 2.5 billion dollars (over Rs 9,961 crore) in expanding its Visakhapatnam refinery capacity to 16 million tons, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

HPCL plans to de-bottleneck units at Visakhapatnam refinery to augment the throughput to 10 million tons from current 7.5 million tons, by the end of XIth plan (2012), Minister of state for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dinsha Patel said in a written reply to a question.

The company would then raise the capacity to 16 million tons by the end of XII plan (2017). "HPCL has undertaken a preliminary feasibility study to set up a petrochemical complex at Visakhapatnam in consortium with a partner, after which, the capacity and costs can be firmed up," he said.

To a separate question, Patel said public sector fuel retailers Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum lost Rs 26,363 crore during first half of current fiscal on sale of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and PDS kerosene at prices below cost.

The companies lost Rs 2,638 crore on petrol, Rs 9,919 crore on diesel, Rs 8,206 crore on PDS kerosene and Rs 5,608 crore on domestic LPG, he said.

The retailing firms would be issued bonds for an amount equal to 42.7 per cent of their under-recoveries and one-third of the revenue loss would be borne by upstream companies like ONGC, he said.

To another question, Patel said the fuel retailers have planned 3,215 new petrol pumps in the country during 2007-08.